The present disclosure relates generally to microelectronics. More specifically, but not exclusively, the present disclosure is related to the detection of electrostatic discharge (ESD) events occurring in integrated circuits and during the processing of integrated circuits.
ESD events are a well-known problem in the microelectronics industry. An ESD event may damage an integrated circuit when static charge rapidly discharges through an integrated circuit. Left undetected, this may lead to integrated circuits being shipped out of factories either totally inoperable or with latent defects. Continuous scaling of microelectronics is likely to worsen the problem as integrated circuit element sizes become smaller and thus more susceptible to damage from ESD events. Typical ESD detectors used in factories may include electromagnetic antennas that are normally positioned either by hand or ad-hoc mechanically supported about 3–6 inches away from a “target” or discharge region. The use of such antennas, however, can be impractical for various reasons. For example, peak-to-peak voltages detected on such antennas may have limited frequency spectrums.